Dar Williams
(Razor and Tie)
If album titles were indicative of an album's quality, then Dar Williams' Promised Land would mark a career-defining moment for the literate, clear-voiced singer-songwriter; it'd be the album on which she found the right dose of tension and sonic grit to add to her thoughtful but seldom penetrating songs. Alas, it's not that album.
Even with producer Brad Wood in tow, who has worked with Smashing Pumpkins and Pete Yorn among others, the 10-song set offers the clean, pop-oriented sound Williams has increasingly embraced. The glossy approach works well enough on her cover of Fountains of Wayne's "Troubled Times" and the shimmering "Easy Way," two sure bets for the Anne Taylor Loft playlist, but on songs with more lyrical heft, the pleasant pop sheen all but erases any emotional pull. On "Holly Tree," the closest thing on the album to Williams' folk-based material, she tells the story of a woman losing her baby during childbirth while evoking very little of the sorrow that would accompany the experience.
Tracks like the frenetic "Buzzer," on which Williams adopts the persona of a participant in a Stanley Milgram-like obedience experiment, and the sorrowful waltz "The Business of Things," featuring a beautiful muted horn interlude, offer glimpses of what Williams is capable when she's willing to break from the comfort of pretty folk-pop. As it is, though, the album can be summed up in the title of the opening track: "It's alright."
Standout Tracks: "Buzzer," "The Business of Things" JASON MIDDLEKAUFF
